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1.1.13-Pilferingapples
Brick!Club Book 1: Fantine Chapter 13: What He Believed Oh GOOD, tonight and tomorrow are wrap-up chapters. I did not want to handle Actual Plot while I was daytripping. Still, I actually want to discuss this one! I like it as a way of handwaving the Bishop’s particular dogmas; besides no doubt avoiding some touchy issues of the day (and now) it reestablishes the idea of love as the source and purpose of the Bishop’s faith, and even faith in general, and compassion as a way of demonstrating faith. These are somewhat important concepts through the book, and laying them out here in what’s essentially the narrative Overture (“open with Song of Revolution, transition to Themes of Social Ostracism, fade into Theme For Love and Faith with Crime and Punishment underlying, go to The Republican Hymn with triumphant notes of idealism so they recognize that for Book 3, fade out with Love and Faith”) feels surprisingly natural to me, given what an expodump it really is. I especially like the line “He believed as much as he could”(FMA) — it can be taken in so many way! Does he believe as much as it’s possible for any human to believe? Is it saying his belief is limited, but as full as he can make it? I don’t know! French readers/speakers, any suggestions? Aaand there’s a final reminder that the Bishop isn’t a static saint, that he was in fact kind of a jerk by his own reckoning for a long long time. I think it rounds out the picture we’ve been given more than the other attempts— I like the man who’s matured into kindness and awareness here, moving past his own doubts by having faith in faith, basically. And it makes me wonder what his relationship with Baptistine was like in his younger days…was she maybe the leader in the spiritual domain? Did she have her own wild days, was she HIS example once? A whole 13 chapters on a minor character’s household, and I ACTUALLY WANT TO KNOW MORE. Darn it, Hugo. And well played. Commentary Gascon-en-exile Because the bishop is basically Hugo’s model of an ideal clergyman, the slight universalist - and very Romantic - strains of philosophy in this chapter add a slightly unorthodox though overall positive element to his theology. We even understand how far he goes - and doesn’t go - via allusion; he follows in Christian (St. Francis of Assisi) and classical (Marcus Aurelius) footsteps while not going so far as the Eastern Other figure (bramine/Brahmin), because that might actually be heretical. The Transcendentalist mindset - “God is in everything” and such - is fine so long as one doesn’t get too foreign with it, apparently. The French for that sentence is “''Il croyait le plus qu’il pouvait'',” literally “He believed the most that he could.” It’s still rather opaque, but I believe Hugo is commending Myriel in this passage for not confining himself to the strict dogma of the Church (or worse, spending all his time and energy quibbling over questions of dogma). His love extends beyond the bounds of his specific faith, and because of that he is a better clergyman even if he is perceived as weak by some. Appropriately for a chapter whose title anticipates a statement of belief from a Catholic, the bishop’s two guiding principles appear in Latin: Credo in Patrem and quia multum amavit, “I believe in the Father” (an abbreviated version of the first line of both the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds) and “because he loved much.” He has the appropriate doctrinal foundation for his office but is able to look beyond it toward a universal compassion. Ugh, I don’t even like Valjean’s story that much and yet I can’t wait for him to finally show up. Myriel is the Brick’s near-perfect moral/philosophical ideal without queer overtones, hence why he quickly becomes so dull. Of course one can find things to say about him, but it’s been thirteen chapters already… Pilferingapples (reply to Gascon-en-exile) Ah,thanks for the translation! And yeah, we’re alllmost there. I’m guessing/hoping the first point of actual plot will give us a bit more to discuss.